Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1887-08-04
ANARCHISTS AWFUL WORK
Insurance Men Astounded atthe Heav,
Losses Caused by Recent
Conaagrations.
A Feeling that the Teachings Of Most
Have Prompted the Malignant
Incendiaries.
New York special,

The Tribune says: SAT the Office Of 4
firm of we'll l-known insurance brokers, Yea.
terday, it was said that the past six month.
had been the most disastrous in the 6ra
record of any like period, save, of course
in that embracing the Chicago and Boston
fires. So far as had been learned, onlv
two companies had made any money in
that six months. The matter has been d;s.
cussed in every Office and every association
of underwriters.
There is one striking phase of this mat.
ter which has come to the fore prominent.
ly in few days, and that is the relation Of
Herr Most and his sympathizers to many
of those fires. AS indicative of the extent
to which insurance companies are being
aroused to this question, it is only neces.
saly to call attention to special meeting
of the New York Board of Underwater
held yesterday, to discuss this very subject
and adopt ways and means to meet The
emergency. Herr Most's book bearing
on the subject of dynamite and phos.
phorus as incendiary agents was considered
at length, especially his claim that many
recent fires were due to their use. Copies
of newspapers, the book itself, and all
available information upon the point were
week before handed over to the Commit
tee on Police and the Origin of Fires with
instructions to make a thorough investiga-
ton of the matter, and report upon some
plan which would check. if possible, the
great increase in the number of fires which
were undoubtedly incendiary. On this
point member of the board said yester-
day:
"John Most has become factor in the
sub,ect of fire insurance. Our civilization
has come to pretty pass when such red.
mouthed, ranting anarchists utterances
have to be considered by fire insurance
companies, and means devised to abate
their bnpeful effects. There is some means
of reaching this man, and what the law
can do will soon be tried. He openly
boasts in his book that recent fires are,
some of them Mt least, due to anarchists.
Whether true or not, his utterances have
their effect"
On the subject of averting disastrous
losses in fire insurance, remedies have been
considered by fire underwriters from time
10 time Yesterday all phases of the mat
ter were taken up. One measure proposed
is that every person insured shall, in the
case of iun in such extraordinary, and
for the companies exhausting losses, share
in n portion of his own loss. Another sug-
gestien was that known as the French sys-
tenn, in which every insured person must
pay for injury done to contiguous prop
erty when the fire starts on his own prem
ises.
This city aud vicinity have been the
great sufferers in the recent unprecedented
losses. Said Mr.. Kennedy yesterday: "New
York has been the worst sufferer in the
los civ he oil rhicnun NIL
waukee, and other cities have done their
best to keep up nn undesirable rivalry.
Just this morning we learn of another Chi
cago ire; loss, $300,0lO."
Franklia Webster, editor of the Insar-
d,,ce Chronicle, said OF New York's share
in these recent losses: "rhe recent large
fires seem to have punched themselves in
and around New York, so that in the past
six months the losses here have been
twice what they were for the whole of the
preceding year, making the ratio four times
as large for the same period. If this rate
should be continued long it would, Of
course, be disastrous; but that is not to be
expected, and there is no reasonable
the extreme West has been fortunate; last
year it was the other way. The losses
seem to alternate in alternate years be-
tween the East and West"
One feature iii insurance business whicl,
has been brought to light in the recent
losses is what nre termed Jumbo" lines,
and the matter is commented on with sur
prise in insurance circles. By this it is
meant that several companies which had
hitherto incurred risk of a small percent
age have been insuring much larger per
cent, and thus running into the Jumbo"
lines. Among those companies are said to
be some we'll known companies of this city,
Brooklyn, and Chicago.
On the whole situation an insurance agent
said yesterday: IF this thing keeps up We
are going to stop; that's all. It is some
thing like the hot weather-we must have q
let-up or perish"